As the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this week mark the 61st anniversary of the first atomic bombings in human history, the world faces the likelihood of the further spread of nuclear weapons. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and of Nagasaki, three days later, caused the immediate deaths of about 140,000 and 74,000 people, respectively.
These events were not just tragic episodes in the closing days of World War II; the killing and injuring of hundreds of thousands of people also heralded the advent of an age in which the annihilation of countries and civilizations by nuclear weapons has become a possible reality.
A report by the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, an independent panel of international experts funded by the Swedish government and headed by former United Nations chief weapons inspector Mr. Hans Blix, offers a bleak picture. Humankind has accumulated some 27,000 nuclear weapons, with more than 12,000 of them deployed. These figures are "extraordinary and alarmingly high" in themselves, yet the "existing nuclear powers" -- the U.S., Russia, China, France and Britain -- continue modernizing their nuclear arsenals.